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West Ham are reportedly sending a scout to the Istanbul derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce on Saturday to make another check on Kosovo star Vedat Muriqi.
The Hammers were linked to the 25-year-old forward after he impressed against England earlier this month, providing two assists and a goal for his country in the 5-3 defeat to Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions.
He scored via a penalty which he earned himself from Harry Maguire’s foul and Muriqi gave the England and Manchester United star a torrid evening at St Mary’s.
Turkish newspaper Sabah subsequently claimed West Ham were one of seven clubs in Europe watching the Fenerbahce striker.
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Those seven were said to be Manchester United, Tottenham, AC Milan, Inter, Napoli, Atletico Madrid and, of course, the Hammers.
The powerful 6ft 4in striker only joined the Istanbul club in the summer from Caykur Rizespor, where he scored 25 goals last season.
He has already netted three times in five Super Lig games for Fenerbahce and twice for Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and England.
That has led scouts of Spurs and Manchester United to watch him in domestic action.
Now another media outlet, Fanatik, reports that Hammers scouts will make the trip to the Turkish capital for Saturday’s huge derby class between second-placed Fener and champions Galatasaray.
The report does not mention any other clubs as likely to be present, but West Ham do appear to be on the lookout for another striker in the upcoming January transfer window and were linked to Atalanta’s on-song Colombian star Duvan Zapata earlier this week.
Manuel Pellegrini only has two central strikers at his disposal right now after the summer departures of Marko Arnautovic, Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez.
Sebastian Haller has started the season well after his move from Eintracht Frankfurt but Alban Ajeti is yet to really impress, although he started in Wednesday’s Carabao cup third round defeat to Oxford United.
